Loris Capirossi has said that he is terribly disappointed by how his season is going this year and that he feels terrible that he is more than two seconds slower than the lead riders during a race and is bringing the rear guard. Attempts at going faster have been resulting in crashes and Capirossi says he is completely demoralized. He originally wanted to race with the 1000cc machines next year, but the way his season is going he may not find a ride next year. Capirossi says he does not want his career to end in this way. Se says that the Ducati does not give any feeling and therefore is difficult to ride. Yet again this is proof of the genius of a man called Casey Stoner who not only rode this bike with confidence but also secured a World Championship on it.
Yearly Archives: 2011
Since MotoGP bikes will be changing over to 1000cc engines next year, the FIM has allowed each rider of existing teams 8 days of testing the 2012 prototypes during this season. Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden were the first to test the Ducati Desmosedici GP12 in public at Jerez a few weeks ago. Rossi tested the new Desmosedici again this week at Mugello and has declared himself pleased with the direction that the bike is moving in terms of its development. Many consider that Rossi’s real challenge aboard a Ducati will start next year and not so much this year, which is being seen as a damage limitation season.
Force India F1 team driver Adrian Sutil has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Not only is he going slower than rookie team mate Paul Di Resta in qualifying and in the races but his involvement in a fracas with Eric Lux CEO of the Genii Group that owns the Renault team has been making headlines. Sutil is supposed to have assaulted Eric Lux in a nightclub in Shanghai post the F1 race. Lux has threatened legal action but thus far has not done much about it. Vijay Mallya, the owner of the Force India team has said that no action against Sutil will be considered until such time that a court of law passes a verdict on his actions. That means Sutil is safe for now. It is also very likely that management level discussions between Sutil’s manager and Lux’s counsel may be taking place and so the matters may not even go to court.
The GP of Bahrain which was to be the season opener of the 2011 Formula1 season had to be cancelled due to the unrest in the country that was demanding greater democracy. The ruling family in Bahrain has since said that the unrest is over and that the country is now ready to host the GP if given the chance. The problem however is that the calender is chock a block and fitting the Bahrain GP could be a problem. One suggestion was that the inaugural Indian GP scheduled for the 30th of October be pushed to 4th of December and Vijay Mallya has been quoted as saying that the organizers of the Indian GP should have no problems with that. Bernie Ecclestone is now hopeful that the FIA will rule favourably in its meeting on the 3rd of June.
Fernando Alonso in a Ferrari set the fastest time in the second free practice at Monaco but has cautioned everyone to not read too much into that. It is well known that the Ferrari car has now made it a habit to flatter in practice only to deceive in the race. Ferrari’s poor start to the season has claimed its first scalp in the form of Technical Director Aldo Costa being relieved from his duties and responsibilities for another job in the Ferrari factory. If there are no drastic improvements it does appear as if other heads may roll as well.
It is well known that there are two Lotus Renault teams in Formula1 this year. Tony Fernandes originally was granted the right to use the name Lotus Racing by Group Lotus which is owned by Malaysian car maker Proton. It helped that Tony Fernandes is also a Malaysian. But late last year the pitch queered with Group Lotus withdrawing the permission it gave to Fernandes. Tony Fernandes then approached David Hunt the brother of former F1 driver James Hunt for buying the rights to the Team Lotus moniker. Colin Chapman the founder of Lotus used the Team Lotus nomenclature for his F1 team and somehow the rights to this have landed in the Hunt family. The fiery CEO of Group Lotus Dany Bahar has initiated legal proceedings against Tony Fernandes for breach of contract and use of the Team Lotus moniker. Group Lotus became a sponsor of the Renault Team and the team is now called Lotus Renault. Bahar has said that in the long run, Lotus will take over the Renault team which is now owned by the Genii group and therefore does not want to have another Lotus Team on the F1 grid.Today there will be a judgement on whether Tony Fernandes can use the name Team Lotus or not. Fernandes is a shrewd businessman and already has a plan B in case the verdict goes against him. He bought out specialist car maker Caterham, which makes a version of the famed Lotus7. Today should reveal all.
After splitting with JV partner Hero, Honda is not wasting time to reach its avowed ambition of becoming number one two wheeler maker in India. One of the strategies of Honda has been increasing its dealers especially in tier II and III towns. It has said that it will add two hundred new dealers this year and hundred a year from next year on for the coming ten years. It is also fast tracking the construction of its second manufacturing plant in Tapukara in Rajasthan. Honda has also identified the location for its third plant which will be coming up near Bangalore in Karnataka. Presently all Honda products have long waiting periods. In fact, Hero Honda’s Pleasure which had a lukewarm initial reception is now reportedly selling in excess of 30,000 units per month due to the 4 to 6 month waiting period for Honda scooters especially the Activa. Even TVS with its Wego and Mahindra with its Duro have benefitted from this waiting period that Honda scooters have. Honda wants to change all that and soon. It just can’t wait to be king.
The internet is yet again witnessing reports and pictures of the Skoda Fabia Scout testing near Pune. The Fabia Scout is actually nothing but the Fabia with body side mouldings and bash trays at the front and back. There is nothing much else to distinguish it from the regular Fabia. However, there has been speculation that Skoda India is to launch a sub Yeti and sub 10 Lakh Rupees SUV. Is it possible that the Fabia Scout is being converted into a small SUV by changing/adding parts? We think that is the case. Skoda does not have any other platform to make a smaller SUV, so it is logical to assume that the Scout with different underpinnings and mechanical variations will assume the mantle of an SUV.
Autocar India is reporting that Jaguar/Land Rover is contemplating setting up an engine manufacturing unit in India. The Tata owned company is setting up a green field engine manufacturing unit in the Midlands of the UK and after the completion of that plant, a carbon copy of that could be set up in India. Autocar India says the estimated budget of the plant is 400 million pounds. Jaguar/Land Rover presently buys engines from Ford as per the agreement at the time when Ford sold Jaguar/Land Rover to the Tata Group. The Tatas are keen on independently manufacturing engines of up to 2 litres first and then gradually building even bigger capacity engines. J/LR is scheduled to start CKD kit assembly of the Freelander2 model of Land Rover in Pune soon. Manufacturing engines in India may give J/LR the edge due to economies of scale. But that is a still a while away.
Thanks to Formula1 and the super rich of the country, Ferrari is a well known name in India. One Sachin Tendulkar was even gifted a Ferrari by the Fiat Group while he was their brand ambassador. Other than that the super rich in the country have imported Ferraris and there are numerous threads in various automobile forums that have pictures of the various models of Ferrari cars that some in India own. Ferrari has now dropped anchor in the country officially with the Shreyans Group, who will be their importers and sellers. Shreyans has inaugurated its first Ferrari dealership in the country on Jan Path in Delhi. Prices start from Rs. 2.2 Crores onwards. If you are in Delhi just walk around on Jan Path and catch a glimpse or two of whatever Ferrari there is in the show room. That is the closest you will come to the car. Of course, if you are super rich you can walk in, choose a Ferrari, plonk the dough and go home in that car.